1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a flush apparatus, and more particularly to a motorized automate/manual push button system, which is adapted for incorporating with the flush apparatus to selectively actuate the flush apparatus automatically by a motorized device in responsive to a presence of a user and manually by an actuation of a push button.
2. Description of Related Arts
A conventional manual flush apparatus for a sanitary system comprises a valve body, a water valve, and a manual operation mechanism. The valve body has a water inlet communicating with a water source, a water outlet for the water flushing out of the valve body, and a manual handle opening communicating with the manual operation mechanism. The water valve comprises a diaphragm member sealing between the water inlet and the water outlet, and a diaphragm shaft downwardly extended from the diaphragm member to move the diaphragm member between a sealed position and an unsealed position.
The manual operation mechanism comprises a driving unit, a retention ring coupled with the valve body at the manual handle opening to hold the driving unit thereat, and a manual handle movably mounted at the retention ring via a ball joint. The driving unit comprises a dish-shaped pushing platform disposed in the retention ring and a plunger pin extended from the pushing platform towards the diaphragm shaft through the manual handle opening. When the manual handle is manually moved through an arc-path from its first position to push the pushing platform, the plunger pin is laterally moved to push a bottom portion of the diaphragm shaft in a tilted manner, thereby unsealing the diaphragm member to let the water flushing out of the water outlet and thus flushing the sanitary system.
The main advantage of the manual flush apparatus is that the manual operation of the manual operation mechanism is accurate and simple. Accordingly, since the pushing platform provides a relatively large pushing surface for the manual handle, the pushing platform can transmit the pushing force at any direction from the manual handle to a lateral pushing force at the plunger pin. In other words, no matter which contacting point at the pushing surface of the pushing platform is hit by the manual handle, the plunger pin will always laterally move to push the diaphragm shaft. Therefore, the user can move the manual handle at any direction for completing the flushing operation of the manual flush apparatus.
For hygiene purposes, an improved flush apparatus provides an automated operation mechanism for flushing the sanitary system in a hand free manner. The automated operation mechanism comprises a solenoid operated pusher for utilizing a latching solenoid to limit power drain on the battery. Accordingly, when an infrared sensor detects the presence of a user of the sanitary system, the solenoid operated pusher is automatically driven to move the diaphragm shaft for flushing the sanitary system. However, the automated operation mechanism has several common drawbacks.
The presence of the user sensed by the infrared sensor will cause the solenoid to move the diaphragm member to the unsealed position. It is known that the solenoid is made of a number of circular wire loops to generate a magnetic force when an electric current is passed through the wire loops. The solenoid may come in contact with water such that the solenoid may accumulate rusting particles from the water, which may remain on the solenoid. It is one of the common problems to cause a failure of operation of the automated operation mechanism. In other words, the conventional manual operation mechanism is more reliable than the automated operation mechanism. Thus, the maintenance cost of the automated operation mechanism is higher than that of the conventional manual operation mechanism.
In addition, the structural design of the automated operation mechanism is different from that of the manual operation mechanism. In other words, when the flush apparatus is incorporated with the automated operation mechanism, the flush apparatus will lose the mechanical-manual operated feature. Therefore, there is no alternative to flush the sanitary system when the automated operation mechanism has failed to operate.
The solenoid operated pusher is retracted by a spring force. Accordingly, a compression spring is coaxially mounted at the solenoid operated pusher and arranged in such a manner that when the solenoid operated pusher is pushed forward to move the diaphragm shaft, the compressed spring will apply the spring force to push the solenoid operated pusher back to its original position. Accordingly, the spring will gradually generate a weak spring force after a period of continuous use.
In order to install the automated operation mechanism into the conventional flush apparatus, the manual operation mechanism of the flush apparatus must be totally removed, which is a waste of resources in order to incorporate with the automated operation mechanism. In other words, the driving unit, the retention ring, and the manual handle must be disassembled from the flush apparatus in order to install the automated operation mechanism.
Furthermore, the solenoid must be electrically linked to a power source. The solenoid can be electrically linked with an external AC power source that an electric cable must be properly run from the external power source to the solenoid. Alternatively, the solenoid can be powered by a battery that the battery must be frequently replaced before the solenoid is out of battery.
Furthermore, in order to save the amount of water being used in every flush operation, a waterless flush apparatus is provided especially in crowded public restrooms. The waterless flush apparatus can save money on water and sewer charges for thousands of flushes. However, the waterless flush apparatus requires a special cartridge to provide odor-free operation in order to prevent odors from escaping. The cartridge also acts as a trap for uric sediment to prevent the clogs of drain pipe. However, the cartridge must be replaced often and the replacement of the cartridge is relatively expensive. As a result, the maintenance cost of the waterless flush apparatus will be higher than the conventional flush apparatus.